kagablog

My earlier work Toto! I have a feeling… is a story about a girl on a journey. Loosely based on the Wizard of Oz , the central character travels through a digital labyrinth of fiction, fantasy and actuality. Swept up in a tornado of different realities she tries to find her way back home. This autobiographical work about traveling back and forth between Amsterdam and Johannesburg, was the initial attempt to create a digital character who is a synthesis of my artistic persona. This persona has existed in the form of sketches and in performances I have made over the last years. Episode 2 is a continuation of this work.

Episode 2 marks the end of the journey - and the girl reveals the destination at which she has arrived. The work is no longer a search for identity or the idea of what home might be – but a manifestation of these ideas. Landed in a world of ‘terror and evil’, this character is a self styled ‘freedom fighter’. Her remaining search is to find a name. The significance of being named is political – a designation, role or association of who and what she represents.

The thematic content of the work is broadly political: an individual in the world. The identity of the individual transcends definitions based on country, nation or point of origin. Identity is constructed from deprogramming politically correct ideas and definitions. Identity is constructed from a process of spiritual and creative photosynthesis . Identity is constructed from all the influences that formally constitute this characters existence.

Working within a technological framework allows one to instantly transfer ones creative visions into the hands, hearts and hard-drives of others – as the material is engaged in an ongoing digital discourse it is transformed and influenced by all who touch it.

In a similar way that Kaganof’s half of the brain is composed of six individuals whose work taken together fit to form a composite identity, Henegan will set up a studio where she will invite a number of guests to collaborate with her on her actualization of self as … project. The guests will each work with her a few days at a time in the creative process .

HOME

Home is the studio / exhibition space of 5 X 7 meters. It will be a constantly transforming installation and performance space which will evolve over the 3 week period. I have made several installations playing with video projections and one-way mirrors. These elements provide for a variety of projections, reflections and an inter-play of the real and un-real – and will make up the basic furniture of the space.

These formal elements provide for a holographic scenography within which the character will reveal her deepest desires and fears.

The home has a ‘painting on the wall’ – an LCD screen which will run digital paintings, films and animated sequences. These narrative sequences will probably be anecdotal antics of this character out and about in the world.

The studio will be made up of computers, lighting and sound equipment which will shape shift over the period as it is lived in and is host to various guests.

All the guests are artists with whom Henegan has previously collaborated. Their artistic practice and diversity have all made a large impact and had an influence on the form and content of her own work. The artists come from a range of different disciplines and cultural backgrounds – with them she has a connection on a creative and artistic level, as well as sharing notions of identity beyond ideas of nation, state or country.

GUESTS

Aryan Kaganof – film maker / visual artist (south africa)

Jimmy Rage – poet / performer / visual artist (jamaica)

Edit Kaldor – director / theatre maker (hungary)

Kees Roorda – director / theatre maker (nl)

Sub Multi-media Re_search Laboratory
TeZ - video artist / software designer (italy)
Frederico Bonelli – techno logitics (italy)
Sagi Groner - sound and video artist (israel)
Tijn sound artist (nl)